more."

"Not need them?"

"No. And I wish to pay you and thank you. I'm ever so much obliged to
you for what you have done--"

"But I haven't done anything yet. I haven't--Oh, I see. You are not
satisfied with my work on your behalf. Well, I can't say I blame you,
for really I haven't had time to give it as much consideration as I'd
like. Still that couldn't be helped and--"

"Oh, don't misunderstand me, Colonel Ashley. I am not at all
dissatisfied," and Mr. Grafton held up a protesting hand. "The truth
is, I'll not need your services in helping me to recover the diamond
cross for Mrs. Larch--or Miss Ratchford, as she calls herself since the
separation. You can drop that case, Colonel."

"Drop it?"

"Yes, the diamond cross has been recovered. I just had a letter from
Cyn--from Miss Ratchford, saying she has the cross."

"She has the missing diamond cross?" fairly cried the detective.

"Yes."

"Where did she get it. Could Spotty--" The colonel whispered the
last name to himself and then stopped short.

"I don't know. I just had a telegram from her, and I am going to see
her now to learn the particulars," went on Aaron Grafton. "She is in
Pompey, you know--where she used to live as a girl, and where I--
Well, I'm going to see her. I came to tell you the diamond cross
mystery is solved and if you will let me know what I owe you I'll send
you a check."

"Oh, that part will be all right, Mr. Grafton. But I don't understand."

"Nor do I," flung back Aaron Grafton over his shoulder, as he left the
colonel's room, rather hastily. "I'll tell you as soon as I've seen
Miss Ratchford. Good-bye!" and he was gone.

For a moment the colonel remained motionless in the middle of the room.
Then a queer look came over his face as he murmured:

"Now I wonder whether he's telling the truth--or lying! Is the diamond
cross in her possession, or did Grafton say that so I'd drop the case
and--leave him out of it? I wonder. And, by the same token of
wondering I think I'd better not let you get too far away from me, Mr.
Grafton. You will bear a little closer watching."




CHAPTER XVII

"A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW"

"Well," remarked Colonel Ashley briskly to himself, "there are two or
three things I've got to do, and do them right away. Which shall I
tackle first? I wonder if it won't be best to have Kettridge come here
and perform the autopsy on that watch," and he looked toward the closet
where he had placed the one that had belonged to Singa Phut. "If I can
look inside that, and see whether or not the mechanism is so obvious
that Darcy must have stumbled on it when he started to repair it--if he
did--then, well, that complicates matters. Yes, I think I must see
Kettridge."

Once more the colonel started toward his room telephone, intending to
summon the jeweler, who was living over the store in Mrs. Darcy's rooms.

The colonel paused at the instrument, recalling that, as he had been
about to use it before there had come in a call for him--the call
announcing the department-store keeper.

But this time the instrument was mute, and the colonel had soon asked
central for the telephone in the apartments now occupied by Mr.
Kettridge. There was a period of waiting.

"I am ringing Marcy 5426," announced the pleasant voice of the girl in
the central office.

"Thank you," responded the detective.

Another period of waiting, and again the announcement of the girl,
though the colonel had not manifested any impatience.

"Very well," he responded. "There may be no one at home."

It was evident, a little later, that at least no one intended to answer
the telephone, and the colonel hung up he receiver.

"Well, Kettridge can wait," he murmured, as he carefully put away the
watch, thinking, with a sigh of regret, of poor little Chet. The dog
was a friendly animal and had made many friends in the hotel.

"And so Miss Ratchford--to use her maiden name--has the diamond cross
back again," mused the colonel. "But how in the world could she get
it, when Spotty had it, and the police that are holding him have that,


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